Democrat Miranda Joseph is making her third race for state auditor and her second against Republican incumbent Jim Zeigler.

After two losses, Joseph said her third try feels different. She attributes part of that to Democrat Doug Jones winning the special election for the U.S. Senate in December and breaking the Republican Party’s control of every office elected statewide in Alabama.

“Voters are starting to look outside the box and educate themselves, not necessarily checking a D or R anymore,” Joseph said.

The Democratic nominee said she has adopted Jones’ grassroots-style of campaigning, including knocking on doors, making phone calls and sending texts to educate voters on the race.

In that grassroots campaigning, Joseph stresses her 12 years of work as a certified internal and private practice auditor and her bachelor’s degree in accounting and her master’s degree in business administration from UAB.

“From Day 1 in office I want to audit, and I want to audit correctly,” Joseph said. “Make sure all records are up to date and see exactly where I need to start.”

Joseph launched her political career in 2010 at the age of 25. She said she got no help from the Democratic Party in her first race and she pulled 37 percent of the vote against Republican winner Samantha Shaw.

She ran against Republican Jim Zeigler in 2014 and again pulled 37 percent of the vote. She faces Zeigler a second time on Nov. 6.

According to the state auditor’s website, the Alabama Constitution requires that the auditor provide a complete fiscal report to the governor as well as other reports required by law. The auditor also evaluates state receipts and expenditures,

In light of recent indictments and convictions of state officials, Joseph said, “I think the corruption helps make the state auditor’s race more relevant.”

The auditor’s duties also include keeping up with items owned by the state, including guns, furniture and computers. Joseph said those audits show $10 million worth of state property has been lost, stolen or destroyed since 2010. “And nothing was done about it,” she said.

Joseph stresses the $10 million to voters because she said the auditor hasn’t posted an audit online for the public to see since 2011 — an omission the incumbent blames on state budget cuts.

“The $10 million was since 2010. 2010 was the first year I ran for auditor, I have been keeping track of the numbers since that time period,” she said.

Even though this is Joseph’s third try for state auditor, she said she is optimistic because voters are looking at the race differently than 2010 and 2014.

“The momentum is there. The Democratic Party is presenting a unified front. You can see things changing,” she said.

Editor’s note: The Montgomery Advertiser has partnered with Auburn University’s journalism department to provide more coverage of the upcoming election. Students are profiling some of the state office candidates for the newspaper, and they will be covering several races on Election Day.

Miranda Joseph

Age: 33

Profession: Auditor in private sector.

Family: Divorced/single, one child.

Education: Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2006; master’s degree in business administration from UAB in 2007.

Party: Democratic

Offices held/offices sought: Ran unsuccessfully for state auditor in 2010 and 2014; running again in 2018.